Monday, 14 September 2015

We hosted a data visualization contest as part of the EC-funded Web-COSI project that ran during the summer with the deadline on August 24th. The challenge was to create a data visualization that communicated key statistics about well-being and sustainability to a broad audience. The contest was open to anyone, but there was a specific prize reserved for a winner under the age of 26. The submissions were judged on their clarity and rigour, concept, and originality.

We would like to thank everyone who entered the Wikiprogress “Visualizing Well-being” Data Viz Contest over the summer. We received so many entries of high quality and we are delighted to be announcing the winners, who will be joining us at the 5th OECD World Forum in Guadalajara next month. The contest was held as part of the Web-COSI project, which aims to improve people’s engagement with statistics beyond GDP. We particularly wanted to encourage young people to participate and offered a special prize for under 26-year olds. In the end, two of the winners were under 26 at the time of the competition and one had just turned 26!

The entries were judged with respect to clarity, concept and originality by our expert jury consisting of Kim Rees, Stefanie Posavec and Moritz Stefaner. The jury was very pleased with the diversity and inventiveness of the applications. The goal of the contest was to use creativity to communicate key statistics about well-being and sustainability to a broad audience.

The Winners:Click on their names to view their full submission on Wikiprogress

According to Andrew, his “visualization shows how varied well-being measures can be within a country and consequently how country-wide statistics can over-simplify. While it's convenient to characterize whole populations by talking about national averages, we are often masking a lot of important complexity. This visualization attempts to make understanding this complexity approachable by allowing users to view the overall distribution of different well-being indexes as well as let them focus on a particular area.”

According to Fidel, his visualization “takes a look at what people say is most important to them in life and how this reflects in their choice for a new home. It thereby also raises the question how other aspects, like distance, language and immigration laws, affect the decision.”

According to Alice, the concept she is trying to show is, “that although young adults in developed countries have generally become increasingly well-educated over time, when we take a closer look at the family backgrounds of those young adults, we see that children of less educated parents are under-represented relative to children of highly educated parents. Indeed, most college students come from already privileged backgrounds; children of parents with at most a secondary education are much less likely to enroll in higher education. Since higher levels of education are linked with greater earnings and better economic outcomes, this situation perpetuates inequality.”

The winners of the contest will receive a free trip to Guadalajara, Mexico to attend the OECD 5th World Forum in October. If you are interested in following the discussions at the 5th World Forum, you can watch via live webcast on the official website during 13-15 October.

A huge thank you to our judges and to all of the contestants who sent in their work. We were overwhelmed by the number of entries we received, and the standard was very high in terms of design and originality.

Thursday, 13 August 2015

The deadline for our data viz contest is August 24th. This blog post offers some helpful tips for those interested in submitting a creation to the contest. There will be three winners of the contest and winners will receive a free trip to Guadalajara, Mexico for the OECD 5th World Forum.

We are in the home stretch of our data viz competition! Don't panic! If you haven't started your submission yet, you still have plenty of time to do so. Even if you have never done data viz before, we strongly encourage you to apply! Don't let the "data" part intimidate you; all you need is a good imagination and strong communication skills!

The main goal of this contest is for you to use numbers to tell a story about well-being in the world today. By well-being we mean anything that is important for people to have a happy, fulfilled and productive life. Well-being is a broad and subjective topic, so we don't expect you to cover everything.

We suggest picking one or more themes to focus on, as long as they relate to people's current or future well-being.

Pick a theme (such as poverty or health) and select statistics that help to give insight into that topic in a country, or across a group of countries. See, for example, the OECDBetter Life Indexor theUN Sustainable Development
Goalsfor some inspiration of
key topics related to well-being and sustainability.

Pick a group to focus on (like children or the elderly) and find statistics that can help you to tell a story about well-being within that group or between different groups (e.g. by gender) Example:

As the main
goal is to tell a story using statistics and pictures, we suggest producing a
static infographic that could view well as a poster or a 1-pager in a
newspaper. If you are more experienced, then you can chose to create a more
complex visualization requiring more processing of the data and/or technical
development, such as an interactive visualisation.

Data Visualization Contest

There are a couple of big announcements to make on Wikiprogress this week. First of all, we are running a Data Visualization Contest over the summer called "Visualizing Well-being", with the prize for three winners of a paid trip to Mexico in October this year to attend the 5th OECD World Forum.

The aim of the contest is to encourage
participants to use well-being measurement in innovative ways to a) show how
data on well-being give a more meaningful picture of the progress of societies
than more traditional growth-oriented approaches, and b) to use their
creativity to communicate key ideas about well-being to a broad audience.

Contest entrants are asked to create an
infographic or data visualisation that addresses one or more of the following
questions:

How do well-being
levels vary between countries, or within countries?

How do well-being
levels vary for different population groups (e.g. for young people, the
elderly, by gender, etc.)?

Why is it important
to look beyond purely economic indicators (such as GDP) for a better picture of
people’s current or future well-being?

How can the
multi-dimensionality of well-being be effectively communicated to the general
public?

Entries will be welcomed in two
categories:

1.Interactive
visualisations

2.Static infographics
and visualisations

Entrants are free to use any publicly
available data (either official or non-official statistics) to create their
entry. Entrants can choose their own definition of well-being and select their
data accordingly from publicly available data sources. They are also free to
use existing well-being indices and dashboards for inspiration, as long as they
use the existing data to create their own original visualisation.

The competition is open to all
individuals, both amateurs and professionals. We particularly want to encourage
the participation of young people and at least one of the prizes will be
reserved for under 26-year olds.

Wikiprogress Online Consultation on Youth Well-being: Summary Report

The first
Wikiprogress Online Consultation was a big success and we thank all of you who
took part. The consultation had around 300 registered participants and over 500
comments.

A summary report was
produced, summarising some of the key points made in the consultation, and can
be downloaded here.

The consultation
findings and aspects of Youth Well-being more generally were discussed at a
special session at the OECD Forum in Paris on 2 June. Marianna
Georgallis, Policy and Advocacy Officer from the European Youth Forum (one of
the consultation partners) outlined some of the main issues and led the
discussion. The session, titled “What Does Youth Well-Being Really
Mean?” was attended by around 50 people from the Forum, with many youth participants,
and there was a lively discussion around the questions raised by the
consultation.

Some of the main
takeaways from the consultation and the session included:

Studying youth
well-being is important because a half of the world’s population is under 30
years old.

Youth well-being matters not only for young
individuals themselves, but also for their families, communities and
countries: countries that are more youth-inclusive tend to be more
prosperous, while those that exclude youth tend to have higher crime and
more social instability.

Defining “youth’ is not straightforward as
youth is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood, and from
dependence to independence. For some youth means under 24 years, for
others under 35. While youth age bands are somewhat arbitrary, there is
nonetheless a need for greater precision when talking about youth and
their needs: the needs of under-10 year olds are not the same as a 25-year
old, for example.

Parents and guardians play a crucial
role in youth well-being, but it is important that role is supportive
rather than coercive.

Youth participation in policy is important,
and social media is a good ‘space’ for this. Many young people feel that
adults don’t take them seriously. However, examples such as Obama’s
2008 presidential campaign as well as youth councils and university groups
show that youth are willing to participate. As
noted previously, social media can harness this willingness if older
generations and governments choose to listen.

Young people’s rights need to be strengthened
as regards a labour market which depends heavily on the labour market:
remuneration and opportunities for learning need to be improved and
prioritised.

Monday, 11 May 2015

The first Wikiprogress
online consultation on Youth Well-being has gained a lot of momentum with over
400 comments to date, and we have
decided to extend the deadline for commenting an extra few days to the 15th
May. As we’re nearing the end of our consultation, we’re keen to hear what you think our key policy recommendations
should be to tangibly improve well-being for youth. Sign up and contribute
your opinion here: http://bit.ly/1OwPqdd.
The post below by Laura Gillies of Bluenove, one of the moderators of the
discussion highlights some of the key points in the discussion so far. We look
forward to hearing from you!

We have had some fantastic
contributions in the online consultation this week. Many issues seem to revolve
around the themes of giving youth validity and better utilizing social media,
such as:

Youth have many ideas and seem
willing to engage but they are often not taken seriously. How can we fix this?

Social media seems to have great
potential as a space for dialogue, a place where new 'visual' languages can
evolve, and a repository of data that can be analyzed to improve youth
well-being, but it is often currently seen as a place for shallow dialogue. Can
it be better used for youth well-being purposes?

As we’re nearing the end of our
consultation, we’re keen to hear what you think our key policy recommendations
should be to tangibly improve well-being for youth. Below are some of the main
points discussed in the consultation in the last week.

Recommendations for policy makers

This week the idea of what
recommendations can be drawn from the discussion so far was raised. Current
suggestions include:

Well-being as a universal right
should be fundamental

International initiatives aimed at
re-defining indicators of well-being for the younger generation

Mental health should be seriously
treated by indicators

Data needs to be harvested and
analyzed around youth indicators

University networks should be mobilized

Policies should be flexible

Economic needs should be discussed
and incorporated

Giving
youth validity

Youth seem to be willing to
participate (Obama's 2008 presidental campaign in the U.S., governmental
departments in France, youth councils, university groups, etc.) but one issue
they seem to run into is that adults don't take them seriously. Specific points
and questions raised include:

Obama did not make good on the
suggestions youth made to his political platform

Student /youth groups are often
disregarded

Older generations are not willing to
accept the new ideas being proposed by youth

What can be done to help youth gain
more influence?

Shared
responsibility

The responsibility for youth
well-being policy is shared between many different actors including NGOs,
parents, the corporate world, governments, etc. How can these actors be
convinced to take youth well-being more seriously?

Youth
participation

How can youth be incorporated into
the process? Some great ideas were
raised including:

Creating a debate at home via schools
to incorporate parents into the process

Using the media to create a space for
conversation

Helping older people to accept the
new ideas of youth so they feel incentivised to share their opinions

Creating a culture of engagement from
the get-go (raising kids who feel empowered to contribute)

What are some other ways we can
incentivize youth to participate?

Data collection

This generation of youth are more
connected than ever via online platforms.

What are the possibilities for
harvesting and analyzing the vast amounts of public data that can be found on
social media?

What is the potential for this type
of data in determining what is important for youth well-being?

Intergenerational dynamics

This week the topic of
inter-generational issues was discussed in greater detail. Some key ideas
emerged including how to bring older generations on board with the new ideas of
youth and how to incorporate the wisdom of elderly generations in the process.
This was put into the context of paths to efficient governance for youth, and
the idea of inter-generational mentoring programs was raised.

Mental health

Mental health, alcohol abuse and drug
abuse are often interwoven issues. Can alcohol and drug use be used as an
indicator of youth well-being? Do higher levels of alcohol consumption equate
to lower well-being? Does higher drug use? ​

Employment and well-being

This week the idea that employment
problems for youth is an issue that is impossible to solve was raised. Do you
believe this is true?

The idea that having an education
system that values professional training rather than formal degrees may help
with employment was also raised.

Conclusion

We strongly encourage you to add your
thoughts to the debate, and regularly check back and see how the debate is
progressing! Thank you again to everyone who has contributed thus far! We look
forward to hearing from you in this final week!

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Social and emotional skills play an essential role during all stages of life. Along with cognitive and learning abilities, it is equally important that our youth develop social and emotional skills in order to balance and ground their personalities and strengthen their characters. This blog post on a new OECD publication, "Skills for Social Progress", was written by Lynda Hawe of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, as part of our focus on youth well-being during the Wikiprogress online consultation on Youth Well-being.

As we know from personal experiences, when we feel a deep sense
of well-being we are far better able to absorb new information, take risks and be
more responsible for our lives. Now don’t
we want that for all youth?

But growing-up can often be quite a challenging period. Ensuring that youth have a wide variety of
skills to help them cope with some of life’s challenges may not always occur
naturally. Sometimes they will need help
in building social and emotional skills - which are the kind of skills involved
in achieving goals, working with others and managing emotions.

Social and emotional skills play an essential role during
all stages of life. Fundamentally, along
with cognitive and learning abilities, it is equally important that our youth
develop social and emotional skills in order to balance and ground their
personalities and strengthen their characters. Some examples are: Perseverance,
which is the ability to keep going when things get tough and rough (like when
the sports teacher demands that you to run another 10 laps of the pitch and you
already feel exhausted). Caring, which is the capacity to be
kind to others and to be able to show and feel empathy (when you support an
upset friend by listening and comforting them, irrespective of other priorities
or personal time constraints). Self-esteem,
which meansbeing able to feel good and
being proud of your personal achievements, and comfortable with your physical
appearances (regardless of any unpleasant comments from peers).

Luckily, some of these skills are flexible and adjustable
when growing-up. This allows opportunities for policy makers, teacher and
parents to provide the right kind of learning environments, in order to support
and nurture them. The book Skills
for Social Progress: The power of Social and Emotional Skills addresses the
importance of these types of skills to enhance and balance lives. It confirms international research studies
that validate the need for a steady set of cognitive, social and emotional
skill in order to succeed well in life.
In the past, we often thought that these types of skills couldn’t be
successfully quantified. In contrast, this
report demonstrates that they can be measured meaningfully, within cultural and
linguistic boundaries. Additionally, the
OECD will develop more measures and design an international comparative
framework, in order to better grasp youth’s current and future needs for social
and emotional skills. Consequently, this
report supplements the reflection on how future policies could best encourage
and nurture the development of social and emotional skills, of course, working closely with parents and teachers.

Not surprisingly, we need a wide range of diverse skills to
contribute to the economy, support better social outcomes and build more
unified and tolerant societies.
Cognitive abilities such as literacy and problem-solving remain crucial.
Nonetheless, youth with strong social and emotional foundation skills thrive better
in a highly dynamic labour market and rapidly changing world. Investing in these skills will be central to addressing
numerous socio-economic challenges, and for ensuring prosperous, healthy,
engaged, responsible and happy youth.

Thursday, 26 March 2015

From the 30 March to 8
May, Wikiprogress will be running a 6-week online consultation on
Youth Well-being in co-operation with a number of partners. This
consultation will be quite different from previous discussions held on
Wikiprogress, and the aim will be to cover a very wide range of topics in as
much detail as possible in order to produce a report for policy makers and
practitioners. We intend for the results of the consultation to be presented at
the OECD Forum in Paris in June – and we are counting on your participation to
make sure we have as wide a range of contributions as possible.

There are more young people living in the world today than
at any time in human history and there is an urgent need to better meet their
needs through more effective policy-making and societal action. Last December,
Wikiprogress held a 2-week online
discussion on Youth Well-being Measurement and Policy. We were overwhelmed
by the reaction to this topic, and it was quite clear that there was much more
to discuss than the usual format allowed.

A new tool for online consultation

From Monday 30 March to the 8 May, we will be running an online
consultation to explore in more detail the many questions raised by the
December discussion. In order to this, we are experimenting with a new
open-source tool, which will allow us to bring more structure to the
conversation, and keep track of the key ideas that emerge over its 6 weeks.

Those who have taken part in previous Wikiprogress
discussions will notice that this consultation looks quite different from our
usual discussion pages. The idea is that by using a tool that has been
specially designed for large-scale online debates, we will be able to organise
contributions by theme and by question, making it easier for people to
participate in the areas that most interest them. It will also make it easier
to highlight key points and summarise pertinent information when it comes to
communicating the knowledge gathered to policy makers. Every week we will
produce a short summary of the key points of the consultation to help
participants keep track of new contributions.

Anyone is free to take part, and we are especially interested
in hearing from:

Practitioners, researchers and representatives
of organisations that have a particular interest in any aspect of youth
well-being and youth participation.

Young people themselves, who want to have a say
about what matters most to them.

An evolving discussion

The principal
objective of the consultation is to gather knowledge from as wide a range of informed
people as possible about how to better understand the needs of young people and
how to implement policy and other actions that can improve their lives. The
consultation is designed so that it can evolve, with new questions and ideas
emerging as more people contribute. However, the consultation will open on
Monday with a number of starting questions, in the following areas.

First, what does “youth
well-being” really mean? Or in other words, what are the key drivers for
their well-being and how do the needs
of the under-25s differ from the general population in key well-being policy
areas (health, employment, personal safety, etc.)? What resources can we use to
get an accurate picture of young people’s well-being and where do data gaps
exist?

Second, what actions
can we take to make young people’s lives better? What do we know works and
what lessons can we learn from successful examples of policy and grassroots initiatives?
What are good case studies and where do we need better approaches? How can we
move from rhetoric to making a real impact when implementing the Sustainable
Development Agenda and other commitments?

Third, how can we
improve the process of designing and implementing effective policy for young
people? How can we ensure that young people’s voices are heard in the policy
process, and what changes are needed in government mind-sets and institutions
to improve the lives and opportunities of young people?

What will be the
outcomes of the consultation?

We intend for the findings of the consultation to be
presented at the OECD Forum in Paris
in June, and for a report of the consultation to be made widely available for
policy makers, foundations, civil society organisations and others in the
Wikiprogress network.

Partners

The consultation is being held in partnership with a number
of organisations working on youth well-being issues, currently including: